Dr. Ledden is the founding Principal of Kenning Associates. He brings over
a dozen years of experience in strategy and management consulting.

Before founding Kenning Associates, Mark served a variety of Fortune 500 companies
in a broad spectrum of industries as a consultant with McKinsey and Company.
His experience includes designing and delivering core business skill programs
that blend structured problem solving and interpersonal skills, coaching senior
managers to maximize their personal impact and effectiveness during corporate
restructuring, mergers, and strategic renewals, and developing strategic communications
plans to support post-merger management and a broad range of organizational
change efforts.

Dr. Ledden began his career as a professor of English, teaching courses on
business communication and public speaking as well as British literature.
He holds a Ph.D. in English from Emory University, an M.Phil in British Romantic
Studies from Oxford University, and a B.A. in English from Earlham College.

Wei Zhang, Ph.D., Member, Board of Directors

Dr. Zhang comes to Effigene with a wide range of experiences in new product planning, marketing and business development. He has been with both small biotech comanies such as Altus and big biotech/pharmaceutical companies including Amgen and Bristol-Myers Squibb with increasing responsibilities in commercial operations. Dr. Zhang started his career with McKinsey & Company and holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University.

David Sackin, Director, Member, Board of Directors

David Sackin is Senior Expert and co-leader of McKinsey and Company’s North American Marketing Practice of 18 specialists.

Based in Atlanta, Mr. Sackin specializes in new product development, pricing, and sales strategy. Although serving a variety of industries, the focus of his work has been in pharmaceuticals, high tech, and consumer goods.

Recent client work includes:

Created the United States Post Office’s new "Forever Stamp," a stamp that retains its value in the face of future price increases. First year revenue exceeded $200 million

Developed the price strategy for a laboratory testing company’s genotyping and expression product lines, identifying several core customer segments willing to pay a significant price premium

Designed the retail pharmacy incentive structure for a $200 million RX to OTC product launch for a Pharmaceutical company in the EU

Re-configured a sports apparel manufacturer’s technology investment allocation, shifting funding to areas with more consumer value and delivering $35 million in margin improvement

Create a retail pricing and sales strategy for a tire manufacturer’s premium lines, yielding $114 million in EBIT improvement

Mr. Sackin has been a speaker at the American Marketing Association and Marketing Science Institute. Recent speeches and publications include "The Insights Driven Company," "High Impact Pilot Tests," and "Profit from Strategic Pricing Research"

He holds an M.S. in Market Research from the University of Georgia and a B.A. with honors from New College. He lives in Atlanta with his wife Lib and daughters Hannah and Lucy.